It portrays the existential struggles and downfall of an entire people, the Burgundians, in a military conflict with the Huns and their king."--Jacket.

Matthew Miller’s The German Epic in the Cold War explores the literary evolution of the modern epic in postwar German literature. Examining works by Peter Weiss, Uwe Johnson, and Alexander Kluge, it illustrates imaginative artistic responses in German fiction to the physical and ideological division of post–World War II Germany. Miller analyzes three ambitious German-language epics from the second half of the twentieth century: Weiss’s Die Ästhetik des Widerstands (The Aesthetics of Resistance), Johnson’s Jahrestage (Anniversaries), and Kluge’s Chronik der Gefühle (Chronicle of Feelings). In them, he traces the epic’s unlikely reemergence after the catastrophes of World War II and the Shoah and its continuity across the historical watershed of 1989–91, defined by German unification and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Building on Franco Moretti’s codification of the literary form of the modern epic, Miller demonstrates the epic’s ability to understand the past; to come to terms with ethical, social, and political challenges in the second half of the twentieth century in German-speaking Europe and beyond; and to debate and envision possible futures.

This is volume 1 in The German Library in 100 Volumes. It includes a comprehensive foreword to the entire series by the general editor Volkmar Sanders. It also features the following works: The Older Lay of Hildebrand, The Nibelungenlied, The Younger Lay of Hildebrand, The Battle of Ravenna, Biterolf and Dietleib, and The Rose Garden (Version A). In many ways, German, as well as all modern Western literature, is grounded in the epic (or heroic) poetry of this seminal volume.

A thrilling retelling of the Star Wars saga in the style of classic epic poetry "I look not to myself but to the Force, In which all things arise and fall away." Journey to a galaxy far, far away like never before--through lyrical verse and meter. Like the tales of Odysseus and Beowulf, the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Jyn Erso, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Vader, and the Emperor are fraught with legendary battles, iconic heroes, fearsome warriors, sleek ships, and dangerous monsters. Beginning with Rogue One's rebel heist on Scarif to secure the plans to the Death Star and continuing through the climax of Return of the Jedi, author Jack Mitchell uses the ancient literary form of epic poetry to put a new spin on the Star Wars saga. Punctuated with stunning illustrations inspired by the terracotta art of Greek antiquity, The Odyssey of Star Wars: An Epic Poem presents the greatest myth of the 20th century as it would have been told nearly 3,000 years ago.

A study of eighteenth- and early nineteeenth-century poetry in English, French and German, focusing on the mock epic (from Pope's Dunciad to Byron's Don Juan) as a critique of serious epic poetry and also as a literary means of exploring a wide range of sexual and religious issues in a humorous style.

No poem in German literature is so well known and studied in Europe as the 800-year-old "Das Nibelungenlied." In the English-speaking world, however, the poem has remained little known, languishing without an adequate translation. This wonderful new translation by eminent translator Burton Raffel brings the epic poem to life in English for the first time, rendering it in verse that does full justice to the original High Middle German. His translation underscores the formal aspects of the poem and preserves its haunting beauty. Often called the German "lliad," "Das Nibelungenlied" is a heroic epic both national in character and sweeping in scope. The poem moves inexorably from romance through tragedy to holocaust. It portrays the existential struggles and downfall of an entire people, the Burgundians, in a military conflict with the Huns and their King. In his foreword to the book, Michael Dirda observes the story 'could be easily updated to describe the downfall of a Mafia crime family, something like "The Godfather," with swords'. The tremendous appeal of "Das Nibelungenlied" throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is reflected in such works as Richard Wagner's opera tetralogy "Der Ring des Nibelung," Fritz Lang's two-part film "Die Nibelungen," and, more recently, J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."